CS President's Blog

An opportunity for Computer Society members to engage in a dialog and provide feedback on topics discussed by CS President Jim Isaak. Also see the President's Corner for the current status and history of Computer Society board activities, as well as information on how and why to get more involved.

Promoting our Professions

Published Date 1/27/10 12:51 PM

Engineers and technologists are notorious for not acting in their own self interest. We solve problems, and often are motivated by success, rather than other factors. (If you have not researched motivation, it is useful, check out Maslow's work) In Chris Anderson's book "Free" he references research on the creation of free online user manuals. It turns out that participants in creating these (and quite possibly open source software, etc.) are motivated by being part of a community, rather than money. And of course some want recognition of the community for the quality of their contributions ("Belonging" and "Esteem of Others" in Maslow's hierarchy.)

Few of us are actively involved in self promotion, and fewer still in marketing on a broader basis. No wonder we don't promote our profession effectively. So here's a chance to change that. There are many good videos and other similar pieces on the web -- things that can make us proud of what we do, facilitate better understanding of what engineers and technologists do, and attract young folks into our fields of interest.

Since we are a key focal point for solving the world's problems, we owe it to humanity to attract talent into our fields.

So here are some examples ... I encourage you to add your own in reply! If we do this well, we will feel better about our professions (Self Esteem, you know who.) ... and will have a number of messages we can share with others.

Hi All:The number 68 (apr) of NoticIEEEro [R9 Newsletter] published:An article related to Engineering Paradise, and also their authorÂ´s profile, John Cohn IEEE & IBM Fellow.You can get it at http://ewh.ieee.org/reg/9/noticiero.html

We had contact with John, many know him form Mad Science. ItÂ´s an excelent video for encourage yourgers for science and tech.